According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Labour, after inspections carried out last year in the country, labor inspectors found approximately 9,000 Romanians working without legal documents (undercover), 64 of them between the ages of 15 and 18. . It should be noted that according to the estimates of some economists, 1.9-2 million people would work illegally in Romania.

At the end of last month, the Ministry of Labor submitted to the parliament the situation regarding the cases of undeclared work discovered during inspections by labor inspectors in 2023 after a survey by the deputy of the AUR.

Counties with the highest number of black workers: Arad, Bucharest and Timișoara significantly exceed the national average

Controls carried out by labor inspectors last year found almost 9,000 Romanians working without legal documents (undercover), most of them in Arad (1,706), Bucharest (1,685) and Timisoara (1,169).

At a great distance are Bihor (425 people), Cluj (374 people), Constanta (265 people), Brasov (240 people), Sibiu (222 people) and Prahova (211 people).

• SEE CASES OF ILLEGAL WORK DISCOVERED IN 2023

The Ministry emphasizes that, according to the legislation, undeclared work is:

• a) hiring a person without concluding an individual employment contract in writing no later than a day before the start of the activity;
• b) hiring a person without entering the elements of an individual employment contract into the general register of employees no later than a day before the start of activity.
• c) hiring an employee during the period of termination of the individual employment contract;
• d) hiring an employee beyond the duration of working hours established in individual part-time employment contracts, with some exceptions.

More than 5.7 million workers had a work permit in 2023. More than 130,000 of them were over 65 years old

Data from the Ministry of Labor indicate that at the end of last year, the number of employees under individual employment contracts exceeded 5.72 million people.

By age group, the largest number was between 35 and 65 years old, i.e. more than 3.88 million people, and between 19 and 35 years old, i.e. 1.62 million people.

On the same date, more than 136,000 Romanians over the age of 65 were registered as employed with a work permit.

It is estimated that almost 2 million Romanians work illegally. What industries are they in?

It should be noted that according to the estimates of some economists, almost 2 million people work illegally in Romania.

Ionuc Dumitru, chief economist at Raiffeisen Bank, said last month that “in Romania, 1.9-2 million people work illegally. According to him, most of the illegally employed are in trade, industry, construction and agriculture.

The economist also noted that in Romania we have 12,265,000 people in the 15-64 age segment, of which 5.4 million are workers with a work permit at the level of 2022.

• “We still have 1.2 million in surplus who do not pay taxes at all. There are another 1.1 million employers, self-employed, over 400,000 unemployed and 4 million inactive. Of the 5.4 million people who have a work permit, some of them work in the public sector: 1.2 million people,” Dumitru also noted.

On public sector wages (where labor market pressures also come from), he says that public administration and defense are certainly, in relative terms compared to the average for the economy, the sector that has the best pay compared to European nations . (Photo: Dreamstime.com)